Conveyancing

Our site has been designed with you in mind, offering you the client some straight talking information about Residential Conveyancing whether you are selling, buying, re-mortgaging or wishing to transfer the ownership of your property.

We like to pride ourselves on offering an efficient and informative service whilst offering competitive fees in the marketplace. Our fees are also on a “no sale/no fee” basis which means should you withdraw from your first transaction, or the seller withdraws from the sale, you will not be charged any legal fees.

We understand that moving home can be one of life’s most stressful challenges and with three quarters of UK homes owner occupied, most of us will be buyers or sellers at some point in our lives. A calm, focused solicitor can make all the difference in the matter, keeping the process smooth and under control. We will offer clear advice from the start, through all the legal and technical details, until completion. Your transaction will be monitored by us throughout the transaction.

To help you in getting the ball rolling, we have added some “Frequently asked Questions” which we hope will be of use to you:-

How long does it take?

The question we'd all like to know the answer to. We believe the average time for a sale and purchase to complete is approximately 6 to 10 weeks. This is dependent on the speed in which people employ solicitors, submit their survey requests and their mortgage. When you are obtaining a mortgage, you are really then in the hands of the lender as to their requirements and procedures. In addition, if there is a long chain involved, then this can sometimes delay the transaction a little further.

What about chains?

A chain just means where there is more than one buyer and seller involved - e.g. you are selling to someone who in turn is selling to someone else. A chain of conveyancing transactions can make the transaction a little more complicated as everyone has got to get their own transaction ready, and once they have, they may then have to wait for somebody in the chain that has a little catching up to do. Finally when everybody is ready things can be made slower in simply trying to agree a completion date that the whole chain is happy with.

What are Home Information Packs?

The idea of the pack is that the seller gets all the information about the property together either, as soon as they put the property on the market or even before they place the property on the market. The advantage of the H.I.P is that when a buyer is found, the majority of information required by the buyer’s conveyancer has already been obtained . However, more often than not the buyer’s conveyancer will still need to carry out their own Local Authority Search to comply with the mortgage lender’s requirements.

How much does it all cost?

We are happy to provide you with a quotation. You can either request this by email or on the telephone. You will find our link on this page, if you wish to request a quote online. Our fee will be a fixed fee and on a no sale/no fee basis.

What documents do I need?

If you are selling and you have had work carried out on your property then any documentation you can provide in connection with this will be a great help e.g. guarantees, planning permissions, building regulations approval, service records etc.

We've split up and are selling the house - is it different?

Yes and no - the actual house sale procedure is the same, but the administration is made a bit more complicated because you'll each have to sign and agree to everything. This often means the forms are filled out by one party and we send them to the other party for them to confirm they agree – sometimes this can lead to some delay and disagreements. Both parties will then sign the Contract and Transfer Deed in the usual way.

When am I committed/when can I pull out?

The key point here is when contracts are exchanged. Right up until that point any party in the chain can withdraw - with no financial implication on them other than solicitors abortive fees or disbursements. Once contracts are exchanged everyone is bound by the terms of the contract - if anyone then wants to withdraw after that point it will cost them many thousands of pounds - as a starting point it is usually 10% of the purchase price and then any damages that flow from their actions. So basically, when we say you've exchanged you can finally relax, the parties in the chain are committed to the transaction and the move will happen on the date agreed by you.

We’ve split up and want to transfer our property?

This can often happen following court proceedings of a divorce or it may be that you are not married but have reached a decision between you that this is the way forward. The party keeping the benefit of the property may either contact their current lender and formally request consent to take the mortgage on in their sole right or alternatively, they can re-mortgage to a new lender. A Transfer Deed is then drawn up and both parties will be required to sign. If an existing lender is consenting to the transfer, then they will sometimes ask to be a party to the Transfer Deed also. When a property is being transferred, sometimes an amount of money is paid to the party leaving, to represent their share in the property.

Remortgaging - what's that about?

This is changing the mortgage you currently have on your property for a new one, which can be done by either using your current lender and switching to a better product or by changing mortgage lender. It may be that you have come to the end of a fixed rate or discounted rate deal and your monthly repayments have increased. We advise that independent mortgage advice is taken to ensure you get the best deals at the time, offered in the marketplace rather than sticking to one high street Bank or Building Society.

If you have any questions that are not covered in this section, please do not hesitate to telephone us, whereupon we will be happy to advise you.